IPFW held a 1-0 lead in game on off an OSU error before three Mastodon errors and a Robbie Klein gave Ohio State a 4-1 lead. An OSU error made it 4-2 before kills from Kevin Heine and Ben Spurlock and an IFPW error opened a 7-2 Buckeye lead. Ohio State built the lead to 10 at 22-12. At 25-15, IPFW kils from Oliver Kook and Nathaniel Berg and an OSU error cut the margin to seven at 25-18. At 26-19, two Mastodon errors made it 28-19. An OSU error made it 28-20. Steven Kehoe, with a behind-the-back dump kill, set game point at 29-20. An IPFW kill from Ben Duckworth and a Berg ace serve stopped two game points to make it 29-22. The Buckeyes won the game, 30-22, with a Heine kill to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Ohio State hit .433 in the game to .091 for the Mastodons.

Game two had 16 ties and five lead changes. Trailing, 20-18, the Mastodons took a 21-20 lead off three straight Buckeye errors. Ohio State rallied back with a 10-1 run to win the game, 30-22. The run included four Buckeye blocks and kills from Ben Spurlock, Klein, Kehoe and Ted Schoenfeldt. At 27-22, the Schoenfeldt kill and a Schoenfeldt-Heine-Kehoe block set game point at 29-22. An error from IPFW ended the game at 30-22 to give Ohio State a 2-0 lead in the match. The Buckeyes hit .379 for the game to -.032 for IPFW.

Tied at 13 in game three, a Kehoe kill and four Mastodon erorrs gave Ohio State a 17-13 lead. At 20-17, two Shawn Sangrey kills, one from Schoenfeldt, a Heine solo block and an IPFW error opened a 26-17 Buckeye lead. A Heine kill gave Ohio State match point at 29-19. IPFW stopped two match points with a Berg kill and a Phil Peterson ace serve to cut the lead to 29-21. Klein, with a kill, ended the game at 30-21 for a 3-0 Buckeye victory. Ohio State hit .452 for the game to .128 for IPFW.

For the match, Ohio State hit .422 to .068 for the Mastodons. OSU had a 49-36 advantage in kills. OSU’s Kehoe had a match-high 43 assists while Dan Mader had a team-high 22 for IPFW. The Mastodons posted three ace serves to none for the Buckeyes. OSU had 12 service errors to nine for IPFW. Defensively, Ohio State had a 31-25 margin in digs with OSU’s Kehoe posting a match-high 10. At the net, the Buckeyes had a 13.5 to three margin in team blocks. Buckeyes Spurlock and Schoenfeldt shared match-high honors with five assist blocks each.

Ohio State returns home next week to host Rutgers-Newark Thursday and George Mason Friday in St. John Arena.